RIM Loses First Round in BBX Moniker Fight

Research In Motion has been handed a loss in a trademark infringement suit filed against it by Basis International. Basis is a U.S. software company that owns the trademark rights to "BBX," which is the name recently chosen by RIM for its next-generation BlackBerry platform. Today, a U.S. federal court in Albuquerque granted a temporary restraining order against RIM that prevents it from using Basis' BBX trademark. "Basis built the BBX brand over the course of a quarter of a century to become synonymous with the term 'operating system independent'. RIM's unilateral seizure of that brand to use as a name for their new BlackBerry operating system is destroying that association," said Basis in its original filing. This preliminary order means RIM has to stop using the name BBX in reference to its next-generation platform immediately, though a final outcome for the lawsuit has yet to be decided. Subsequently, one of RIM's official Twitter accounts, @BBDevCon, tweeted Tuesday evening that "BlackBerry 10 is the official name of the next generation platform that will power future BlackBerry smartphones." BlackBerry 10 will now be the name for RIM's new smartphone and tablet operating system, which will blend components of the QNX PlayBook operating system and existing BlackBerry operating system.